Put up your dukes -- and fight to stay fit

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The deadening thump, thump, thump of gloves on heavy bags matches the repetitive rap pulsing from the speakers as the boxers are put through their paces."Drive the right hand and pull the hook," barks trainer Anthony Charnell.Now he's got the group of 10 sweat-soaked boxers down doing pushups, then back up performing knee lunges followed by jumping jacks. Then it's back to the bags, over and over, for an hour.A Golden Gloves training session? Pro fighters warming up before sparring?Hardly. All it is, really, is a good aerobic workout for people at LA Boxing, the first Sacramento, Calif., franchise of this specialty gym. Since its opening in July in a strip mall, LA Boxing has seen its membership rise to 500, equally divided between men and women, and ranging in age from 5 to 65.Boxing as a good form of cardio exercise is not novel. In fact, the LA Boxing franchise is merely the heralded contender to Sacramento's defending champ -- Prime Time Boxing, a traditional gym that since 1998 has catered to those wanting to learn the sport.You could say the two facilities are in a bout for bodies, but, really, they attract different clientele."We're more traditional," says Prime Time's Cary Williams-Nunez, who owns the gym in Sacramento and another in Roseville, Calif., with her husband, Angelo, a former pro boxer. "We want to bring old-school into a new style. Yes, people can come in and get a workout, but they truly learn the sweet science and nothing else."Whereas at LA Boxing, the emphasis is on feeling the aerobic burn and getting into shape. There are serious fighters who climb into the ring, but manager Branden Bruce says the majority of LA Boxing's members just want a good workout -- boxing, kickboxing, jujitsu -- without the tedium of a treadmill or spin class.Both clubs offer classes for small groups, though individual training can be arranged."Most people here are in their 30s and 40s and tired of a regular gym," Bruce says. "In a regular gym, you could be there an hour and burn maybe 300 calories. Here, the instructor keeps you moving. People like the fact they can get in and out of the gym in an hour."As a sport, boxing has had many ebbs and flows of popularity over the decades. Currently, it's on an upswing, thanks to reality TV and several recent boxing movies. But as a workout, boxing has taken off the past few years, says Andrew Neitlich at the Boxing Fitness Institute in Florida, which trains and certifies instructors."The most popular are the gyms that emphasize fitness, not fighting," Neitlich says. "The clients with money to spend typically have good jobs and want to learn to fight without actually having to fight."Williams-Nunez says her Prime Time members get both. As proof, she says the recently opened Roseville Prime Time gym has drawn a number of women. And Prime Time recently sold its first franchise, expected to open soon in Folsom, Calif."Even though we're a more pure boxing (gym), it's very non-intimidating," Williams-Nunez says. "Before you actually box, there's a lot to learn. Our kids' program is all about learning the fundamentals, motor skills, hand-eye coordination. Parents like it because the kids are getting a workout. In a lot of the martial arts, people aren't getting the cardio they need."For Ulises Mora, a 14-year-old from Sacramento, belonging to Prime Time is the first step to what he hopes will be a professional boxing career."I used to just fight in the streets, but my friends told me about this place," he says. "I'm learning something. They really push you."Members at LA Boxing say they feel motivated, too, but it's for fitness, not ring success."It's more intense a workout than jogging or the gym," says Carmen Brown, a 20-something Sacramentan. "They keep you moving here, and I need the structure."James Croco, 24, says he chose LA Boxing as a workout for two reasons -- to lose weight and to hit something. He says he's been successful on both counts, dropping 35 pounds since summer and joining the gym's recreational fight team."I still want to drop another 20 (pounds)," Croco says. "This is something I can do that I'm interested in, and it doesn't feel like a workout."(Contact Sam McManis at smcmanis(at)sacbee.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)